Not everyone is withholding judgment (or some in Texas GOP speak their mind)…

Mitt Romney’s inability to articulate a position on President Obama’s new policy on deportations appears to be now afflicting the minority leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell.

The Republican from Kentucky today found himself unable to say whether this is a good thing, a bad thing, a thing to be reversed or a thing to be preserved. Here’s what he offered when cornered by reporters, according to this account in Politico:

“I think most of my members are interested in learning what Governor Romney has to say about this issue, and we’re going to withhold judgment — most of us — until that time.”

We know what Romney said when he was cornered over the weekend by Bob Schieffer on CBS’s Face the Nation. In case you missed it, Romney refused to take a position and was almost comical in his evasions. That’s what happens when a news event catches you uncomfortably switching horses on immigration in the middle of the campaign.

McConnell today raised the possibility that Romney will be more voluble come Thursday, when he addresses the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials convention in Orlando. At the very least, we can count on the question being asked, again.

All of this made me wonder how Republicans in our own Congressional delegation have dealt with this sensitive issue. Have they been rendered as mute as their party’s presumptive presidential nominee and their leader in the Senate, or are they wearing their principles on their sleeves?

Here are the results of the survey. (Cautionary note: it is based on comments published in their official websites.)

I’ll let you decide whether it was fear of the Latino vote in heavily-Hispanic Texas that made them cautious. Other theories welcomed, of course.

On the side of speak your mind regardless of the wrath it may incur, we find our very own Lamar Smith: “President Obama and his administration once again have put partisan politics and illegal immigrants ahead of the rule of law and the American people,” Smith said.

Rep. Michael C. Burgess: “This is not only a reckless decision, but one that will continue to block opportunities for American citizens to find employment.”

Rep. Blake Farenthold, who was the only one to offer qualified approval: “Representing the border, I sympathize with children that are the victims of illegal immigration and applaud the president for proposing a solution to this problem. Unfortunately, the president has once again exceeded his Constitutional authority, by bypassing Congress and choosing which laws to enforce and not to enforce in a blatant attempt to gain votes in an election year.”

Rep. John Carter: “President Barak (sic) Obama’s plan to unilaterally grant amnesty to an estimated 800,000 illegal immigrants is in violation of the U.S. Constitution’s separation of powers and is not legally valid.”

Rep. Mac Thornberry: “No one can deny that deciding what to do with children who were brought to this country illegally is a difficult problem. But it is wrong for the President to decide on his own which of our laws he will enforce and which laws he will not enforce.”

Rep. Michael McCaul: “Our immigration laws should be fully enforced and any change to our laws should emanate from the legislative branch of government. It is an insult to our representative democracy that this administration continues to make policy when it does not get what it wants from Congress.”

Rep. John Culberson: “I am outraged the president has ignored the law and overwhelming public opposition in granting amnesty to nearly one million illegal aliens. It is fundamentally wrong to reward illegal behavior and it is illegal for the chief executive officer to issue orders that violate federal law.”

Rep. Louie Gohmert: “This is about the November elections and getting votes from people who are illegally here.”

Rep. Ted Poe: “In his latest Friday surprise, President Obama has acted outside the Constitution and issued an imperial decree, acting to unilaterally and fundamentally ignore the law without any consent or authorization from Congress.”

Rep. Sam Johnson (the only one to deploy an exclamation point): “President Obama’s decision to grant amnesty to 1 million illegal immigrants is an absolute outrage! By bypassing Congress, it seems the president will stop at nothing to unilaterally rewrite our immigration laws and attempt to gain the upper hand in an election year.”

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The Dallas Morning News Editorial Board was the first editorial board in the nation to use a blog to openly discuss hot topics and issues among its members and with readers. Our intent is to pull back the curtain on the daily process of producing the unsigned editorials that reflect the opinion of the newspaper, and to share analysis and opinion on issues of interest to board members and invited guest bloggers.